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For the intel based version of linux, a 386 processor
or above is required. The type of the processor is not of any great significance
- ie SX, DX, DX2 etc. But bear in mind that versions of earlier intel processors
with a DX suffix have a built in math co-pro which will increase responsiveness
and speed in a linux environment ( it is used much more than in a typical
DOS/Windows session).
The later intel, and intel compatible cpu's offer excellent speed in
linux, giving you the speed better than those of dedicated unix workstations
costing many times more just several years ago - anything from a Pentium/K5/6x86
upwards will give blazing speed, just feed it plenty of ram and watch it
go!
If you can stretch to a K6-2, or even better, a PPro or PII, then you
will have a workstation that is very hard to beat, challenging even a DEC-Alpha
or low end SGI.
For the best performance, and the ultimate pose factor, get a dual
(or quad) processor capable motherboard and stick several PPro's or PII's
on it - linux will support upto 16 processors in a single machine. This
is the ideal PC in my eyes - a dual PII with 256Mb and a huge monitor running
linux; yum, yum :)
The more the
better! Linux is more dependant on quantity of ram than it is on
processor speed. A decent 486 DX with 64Mb of ram will cope with just about
anything - add that sort of ram to a pentium class processor and you're
flying! Speed of ram is of less importance than the quantity, but remember
that if you are wanting to use a PII based system of speeds greater than
333Mhz then you will need at least 100Mhz stable SDRAM - as the bus frequencies
are in excess of the previous standard of 66Mhz.
Both IDE, and SCSI devices are supported under
linux (along with many of the supporting chipsets from Intel, Adaptec,
NCR, Future Logic, Advansys, Qlogic etc..), with a wide range of tuning
parameters available to maximise speed. If you are looking to build the
fastest possible system and/or want to have a huge array of disks and peripherals
connected, then SCSI is the way to go. Though UltraDMA IDE is fast and
is a good low cost alternative (but uses more of the cpu).
Many other IO devices are supported, either through
IDE or SCSI ports are other drivers such as the IDE-Floppy support (for
the ZIP drive, LS-120 and others), removeable CD-rom, Parallel ports (SPP/EPP/ECP
etc), serial, PS2, PCMCIA, desktop cameras etc.
All VGA compatable cards are supported, along
with many others, including, text only, CGA, EGA, Hercules, MDA. Obviously,
newer SVGA cards can support VGA mode too. The only problem you may have
is if you decide on using X (and most people do), and you may have trouble
using your brand new, shiny, do everything, 4D accelerator. Though you
will be able to fall back to 640x480x16. Drivers for new video cards are
appearing all the time though.
If you want to use X, then you will be much more happy working with
a 15, or 17" monitor in 1024x768 or 1152x900 (not all cards support the
latter) in 16bit colour. For this you will need at least 2Mb of
display ram, preferably 4Mb or more.
One hint is to find the speed of the video cards RAMDAC, the higher
the speed, then the higher refresh rate you can get at high resolutions
and colour depths (higher refresh rates give you a less flickery display).
These modes are much more pleasurable to work in than 640x480x16 or 1024x768
interlaced, so a decent monitor (at least 75hz or higher at these resolutions)
is a neccesity.
If you can afford it, get a 19 or 21" monitor along with a 16Mb Matrox
Milenium (1 or 2) and run it in 1600x1200 in 16 million colours for a delicious
desktop. Most decent cards from the last few years have excellent parformance
in X, due to the fact that drivers have been written to take every advantage
of the hardware - cards of particular note are: S3 based cards, ATI cards
(both the older Mach-32 and newer Rage/Mach-64) and extremely fast Matrox
cards (which may need commercial support).
All of the original Sound Blaster series by Creative
Labs will work, along with genuine compatable cards. The GUS range of cards
by Advanced Gravis work great (I have a 512kb Ultrasound MAX) and can be
used in a combination with other sound cards. The Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS)
range of cards are supported, Turtle Beach cards are too, along with some
newer cards. SB-32, AWE32, AWE64 cards can be made to work, both in SB16
compatable mode and in native (ie wavetable) mode. Even some parrallel
port devices claim to be supported.
New hardware is being developed for all of the time,
so if there isn't a driver for your hardware at the moment, you can be
sure someone is working on it: why not give them a hand! |
